My Family (How We Vacation on a Budget)

This is my family. We love to travel but don’t love to spend money. Our jobs often give us the opportunity to travel with the kids without breaking the bank. Our annual trip to Newport, RI is one of those times when we tag along with my husband, Wally, when he goes to work.

My husband races sailboats for a living. For his job he has traveled all around the world. He has flown nearly 3 million miles and honestly, when he’s home, travel is the last thing on his mind. He just appreciates being home, so we do a lot of family things without going anywhere at all. But when he is sailing somewhere that is fun for the family, we like to join him. Newport is one of those places. Every year when he races in the 12 Metre North American Championship, we tag along. (This is in large part made possible by the generous owner, who pays for our accommodations each year at this Regatta.)

Ella is fascinated with the boat and when we greet Wally at the dock she jumps right on and starts exploring. I expect she will want to learn everything her Daddy can teach her about sailing in future years. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wants to race sailboats just like he does.

This is one of the few vacations we take where we don’t have to fly now that we’ve moved to the East Coast. A one-hour ferry ride sandwiched between 2 one-hour car drives is all it takes to get to Newport. This year I had to take the kids there on my own, which was quite challenging on the ferry, but I’ll save that for another post.

We really enjoyed Newport just as we always do. I think the secret to enjoying vacation with very young kids is to not plan a lot, enjoy little things like the local playground and novelty shops, and set aside time for naps. Surprisingly I even got to take a few naps this time while John napped and Ella relaxed playing on the iPod Touch or watching a little TV.

Of course there wasn’t any relaxing time for Wally, who fought hard to win. His hard work paid off when the boat he was on, Victory ‘83, came in 1st in all 7 races in the Regatta. When Ella heard they won, she said, “That’s my Daddy!” She’s very proud of her Dad who tries very hard to win every race. She has inherited his determination to be his best in everything he does.

Here’s a video clip that Wally took while racing on Victory ‘83 a couple of years ago if you want to see what it’s like: